Title: Mugen Spiral: Section D
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own Mugen Spiral or Inuyasha.

Happy Birthday Arcander! I managed to cease my hands in starting a new story, but seriously I can't guarantee I can hold off much longer... Haha! Love you, and I hope tomorrow goes well.

Chapter 2

Kagome tapped an impatient pen on her desk as she listened to the blathering of a man in his forties, and his sobbing wife beside him. She wondered if they actually thought she had sympathy for them. Maybe I'm being mean, she thought, but I can sense they're demons. We sure do get a lot of demons here wanting to be foster parents…

She grabbed a red ink pen and wrote in big, bold letters, "Declined" not just in the space provided for acceptance or denied application, but across the entire page. "I'm sorry," she told the couple, "but here at The Agency, we strive to provide children with the best possible home life, and I'm going to be completely honest. The two of you are the worst candidates I've had all day! And I haven't accepted a single application today, so therefore, that makes you pretty bad."

Okay, she was probably going to hear from the head of The Agency for that little stunt, but what the hell did she care? She was an undercover agent working for a secret part of the government not even the most secretly involved people knew about. If she got fired, she would just get put back in… undercover… most likely under some illusion or another.

The woman began wailing louder, but her husband became angry. "Do you know who I am?" the demon raged, puffing his chest up to make himself look bigger. Like she really cared though… she was wearing a suit and heels and she could still kick his ass any day of the week.

"I even know what you are!" Kagome snapped at him in as pleasant a voice as she could. So… maybe it wasn't that pleasant… but she didn't make it to be one of the best secret agents working for Section D by being Miss Kiss-Ass. No. She made it by being Miss Kick-Ass.

The demon looked surprised, but she just told him, "Take your scrawny little ass outta my office before I kick it out. And believe me, if these heels kick you, it's gonna hurt like hell."

His good girl of a demon mate said, "Don't start anything… we'll take it up with her supervisor… we'll talk to them…"

Yeah, go talk to the supervisor… they don't have a damn clue… Kagome thought. "Buh-bye," she said, giving the man a cocky little wave as she tossed the application into the bin. The waste bin… No sense in it accidentally falling into the acceptance pile, after all… She had been told to keep all rejections on file, so they could be further reviewed by a committee… Like hell she was going to do that.

The buck stops here, as the saying went… Once the woman dragged her very angry man out, Kagome leaned back in her chair. So… her first interview of the day was over… She wondered what the man would think if he knew they had been her only candidate so far…

Yawning, Kagome stood and stretched, then took off her suit jacket, hanging it on the back of her chair. Adjusting the skirt, she grasped her purse and clicked her way across the room. Break time… Well, could she be blamed? Sure she had only been at work for twenty minutes, but she had to sit through an ungodly awful session of 'I'm great so I deserve to be a foster parent, and let me tell you why I'm so much more awesome than you' so she deserved it!

Walking out of her office, she slung her purse over one shoulder. Her hips swayed a bit as she walked, her long legs attracting attention. Not that she noticed…

In the break room, she pulled out her cell phone. Dialing a number she knew by heart, she waited… and waited… and waited… until the phone was finally picked up. "Thank you for calling. We've got all your extermination needs—"

Kagome interrupted the speech. "I'd like pervert repellant. You sell that?"

The man on the other end of the line laughed. "Ah, fresh out, I'm afraid. But if you hurry down here, you might catch the last of it leaving the store. What can I do for you, Kagome-chan?"

"Just calling to check on our little friend… Is his fever going down?" Kagome inquired, looking at her nails. Damn… the paint had chipped. She really ought to stop using the stuff; it just made her mad when the paint job was wrecked.

"Temperature's high as when you checked in last night, but it was a good idea to take Shippou to your mother's. He was actually able to sleep what with it so quiet."

"Thanks for staying there, Miroku…"

"I haven't much better to do. You act like it's a big deal." Miroku laughed lightly. "Besides, it gave me a chance to rifle through your panties."

"Miroku!" she cried in exasperation.

He laughed a bit harder. "I'm kidding!" he assured her, "Just kidding! Anyway, are you planning on staying at your mother's again? I think it would be best if you came to check on him at least…"

"I'll be home tonight. Souta is staying with me for the week…"

"You're sure that's a good idea with your house guest? Last I checked, the guy was a demon, and that's not something that changes very fast."

Kagome sighed at Miroku's concern. "He's practically on his death bed; that's also not something that changes very fast. I don't care if he is a demon; he's still not going to be a threat. What do you take me for?"

"Fine. Well, I'd feel better about it if you took my bead, just in case."

"You're paranoid. I can call you no matter where you are, or what you're doing. Did you forget that?" Kagome chuckled as he tried to fix his blunder, saying something about how she was too pretty, and blah, blah… That was Miroku.

She was grateful to him for his concern, nonetheless. It made her smile.

"I suppose I should get back to this silly job at any rate. Call me immediately if his condition changes."

"Of course," he said, and after brief salutations she hung up.

Worry gnawed at her, but she showed none of it as she moved to the vending machine and bought a cup of iced tea. Heading back to her office, her eyes landed on Maia Kushinagi as the woman came off the elevator and paused to speak to someone, a young girl behind her holding a small black cat in the crook of one arm.

Kagome was surprised at the hard look on the girl's face, but needed to take action. Kagome wasn't placed on this assignment for no reason…

xXx

Yayoi frowned as her new social worker led her off an elevator and into a bustling office. This woman, Maia, sent shivers running constantly down Yayoi's spine. Usually the young spiritualist could easily read a person, no matter what manner of creature they were. She'd been able to do that for many years, since she was just a little girl.

But there was just something off about Maia. She seemed human, but then at the same time, her aura seemed too wrong to be human.

She tried not to think about it. Instead, she turned and cast a suspicious look around the place Kushinagi had led her to. A furious man—nay, demon disguised human—stopped Maia and started to talk harshly to her, exclaiming how he had been denied something.

Maia assured the demon she would 'fix things' and then started walking again. Assuming she was supposed to follow, Yayoi did so. Ura was silent in her arms, glaring at anything and everything, just as suspicious as Yayoi felt.

Suddenly, it seemed as though a rushed woman popped from nowhere and ran into Maia with a Styrofoam cup in her hands without a lid. The cup's contents spilled down Maia's front and the woman said in a frenzy, "My gosh, Kushinagi-sama, I'm sooo sorry! I didn't even see you there! Oh gosh, here, let me help you," the woman said, patting uselessly at Maia's chest with her bare hand.

Maia looked furious as she shied away from the woman. "Higurashi! What do you think you're doing?"

"I—I'm sooo sorry, Kushinagi-sama, please forgive me!" the woman begged, tears forming in her wide, dark blue eyes. "Oh, please, don't fire me! I'm just sooo sorry! Oh, if I lose this job, I won't be able to take care of my son! Oh, whatever will I do, I'm just…"

Maia scowled, "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I, I just was so thirsty, and now its all over you, and I'm so sorry, really I am!" Higurashi said, looking as though she'd been slapped harshly.

Maia said, "Get back to work, Higurashi! I don't want to see you leave your office for the remainder of the day!"

"Yes, ma'am, I won't go anywhere, Kushinagi-sama!" the woman said and turned toward the back.

Maia called her back, "Higurashi, show Suzuka-san to my office. And try not to get lost on the way."

As Maia left Yayoi in the care of the clumsy woman, Yayoi felt more than tense. She could read the Higurashi woman just fine; her expression read "victory" more than anything.

"Well, I should show you back to the old demon lady's office, then, shouldn't I?" Higurashi asked, giggling. "Gods, I just love my job!" She peered into her cup and said, "Aw, but now I need a new drink. Come on, then." She winked at Yayoi. "I'm thirsty. Break room's this way."

Yayoi sighed and shifted Ura as best she could with her suitcase. She really didn't like all this… It was too convenient; her aunt's death, the new social worker, how everything seemed to just suddenly collapse in Yayoi's reasonably sane life…

She followed the woman to a small room containing a few tables and several vending machines and felt rather awkward standing around as the woman started feeding coins into a machine. "You want something?" the woman asked, turning her head back to look at Yayoi. The young girl shook her head. "Alright," Higurashi nodded and took her steaming cup from a machine.

Yayoi felt compelled to ask, "Why did you call Kushinagi-san a demon lady?" She felt no demonic aura from Maia; the woman seemed perfectly normal but at the same time the spirits and Ura were ill-at-ease around Maia. Of course, they weren't any more comfortable around this strange woman either but…

Turning to Yayoi, Higurashi lifted an eyebrow. "Because she is a demon. Don't tell me you're a spiritualist who doesn't believe in demons…" Yayoi felt a chill run down her spine as the woman added, "Especially one as powerful as you."

Yayoi didn't know what to say to the woman so she did as her mother always instructed was best for such a situation and said nothing at all. The woman didn't seem to mind the silence; in fact, she seemed to have expected it, if Yayoi was reading her right—and Yayoi rarely failed to read people correctly.

"Come along then," Higurashi said and Yayoi's grip tightened on her suitcase as the woman walked past her. She couldn't relax. She was taken to a bench outside an office and instructed to wait there for Maia, and then Higurashi went into a room just two doors down, flipping open her phone even as she did so.

Yayoi sat on the seat and wondered why things had suddenly gotten so bad… wondered how things had gotten this way. When she found she couldn't answer that question for herself she set her suitcase to the side of the bench out of the way and moved toward the room Higurashi had entered hoping she might find a moment to spare to talk to Yayoi.

As she got closer, she heard Higurashi's amused chuckle. "Jean-Pierre, you know I can't do that. I need to be on that list. This one is special." Yayoi frowned and stopped, listening to the voice in the room. The door was wide open, and Yayoi was just out of sight of the occupant. "No, I'm looking at the file now. She hasn't got anyone else, so there's a good chance she wouldn't be missed."

Yayoi felt her grip on Ura increase in pressure and after a moment of silence from within the room, she heard more. Yayoi locked eyes with the demon-turned-cat, knowing full well he heard that too. "Sure I could tell you what is so special about her, but then I'd have to kill you… yeah, geez, thanks for being indispensable. I totally love you too. Hm? What's that?"

Yayoi did wish she could hear the other half of the conversation, but at least Higurashi's half wasn't a complete flop. Yayoi could still make sense of the conversation. It was simply that the majority of the subject was elusive to her.

"Oh, no, still nothing from him. His temperature's still in the hundred's and when I left him with Miroku on Friday he was still pretty delusional. I almost changed my mind about going entirely… Yeah, but that's contingent upon if he gets better or"—Yayoi jumped at the sudden call of her name.

"Suzuka-san, come with me, please." Yayoi hid her anxiety as she approached the woman, grasping her suitcase on the way by. She was trying to process what she had heard even as she entered the office and sat in the seat Maia indicated for her.

The office was set up purposefully so that whomever sat across from Maia would be forced to feel inferior. The desk was larger than normal ones, the chair was higher up, so that Maia would look down her nose at whomever she addressed. It was a disconcerting feeling but Yayoi didn't let Maia know she was unsettled. She kept a purely blank expression on her face, and found to her pleasure that Maia was slightly annoyed.

Recalling that Higurashi had called Maia a demon, Yayoi watched woman carefully. If this was some elaborate attempt to get the Spirit Wheel Key from her and then devour her—and it very well could be—Yayoi had no intention of being surprised when the attack came. She wouldn't even be surprised if her aunt's death was not accidental or coincidental.

"Now," Maia said at last, after a moment that seemed never to end. "Suzuka-san, I don't see any records of living family. Do you have any next-of-kin?"

"No." Yayoi said blankly. She felt Ura begin to lick her arm with his grainy feline tongue.

"Do you understand what that means?" Maia inquired as she pushed a button on her keyboard. Yayoi merely nodded and felt a hint of satisfaction as irritation flickered through Maia's eyes. "This means, of course, that you'll be going into foster care…"

"I am well aware of that." Yayoi said. She couldn't feel any demonic aura around Maia, which was strange. If Maia was a demon there should be some feeling there…

xXx

"Oh, I hope you know what you're doing, Higurashi. But it's been done," the man on the other end of the line said.

"Thanks Jean-Pierre," Kagome said. "Those magic hands of yours are beautiful."

"Yeah? They can do a lot more than hacking." Jean-Pierre told her with a chuckle. "I've got to go."

Kagome hung up the phone with Jean-Pierre and prayed to any god that would listen that she did know what she was doing, because quite frankly she wasn't sure. She worked for a top secret government agency with the strictest clearance levels and only the most highly skilled of people made it in there. For all it was top secret, it was probably the most talked about government branch by all the paranoid conspiracy theorists. Of course, no one took them seriously so Kagome wasn't too worried.

Jean-Pierre used to be among the number of paranoid conspiracy mongers, and he damn near had a heart attack when the actual agency he'd sworn existed (aliens, demons, and fairies – oh my! They're real!) and preached about but no one would believe him had contacted him about joining the ranks. His days of hacking illegally into government databases had ended... only because he did it legally now.

She got up to her feet and walked toward Maia's office, fully intent on barging in and thoroughly pissing the demon woman off.

"This means, of course, that you'll be going into foster care," Maia was telling the young girl, Yayoi.

"I am well aware of that," Yayoi replied, her voice surprisingly even and almost unconcerned. She was a strong chit, that was for sure. Kagome debated her options. She could wait until Maia had looked at the database and saw her at the top of the list – or...

It took about three seconds to confirm her tactic to most piss the demon off. She slammed the door open (which wasn't necessary since it was already open, but Kagome was pretty talented). The wall shook a bit, and then a vase fell from one of the bookshelves, shattering on the floor. A vein throbbed in Maia's temple already.

"It's me! I'm finally at the top of the list! This is sooooo exciting!" Yayoi was looking at Kagome, and Kagome saw shadows forming in the young girl's eyes. "We'll get all the paperwork set and you can come home with me. I'm so excited, I'll be a foster parent now!"

Maia glared at Kagome. "There's no possible way you're on the list. You're not eligibl-"

"I'm on the list; check and see for yourself." Kagome snapped. "Unless you want to take the matter to the senior partners, but that will simply press forward a full inquisition as to why you've been manipulating the lists and accepting foster families that have been previously denied after I've declared them unsuitable for housing." She had been reporting it to a higher order to begin with, but Maia didn't know that – yet.

Needless to say, Kagome got her way with Maia although the beautiful woman was purple by the end of the day.

Three hours later, Kagome and Yayoi sat in Kagome's office. Yayoi hadn't said a word. She sat with her suitcase beside her and her cat purring on her lap, kneading its claws into her skirt. The cat's eyes had settled on Kagome and remained there unblinkingly.

Kagome didn't try to make idle conversation. She'd talk to the girl later and explain things. Whether she cared to believe or not was a matter up for speculation at a later hour. At the moment, Kagome had work to do.

...TO BE CONTINUED...